The housing agency say the seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts slipped to 202,337 units in May, down 13.3 per cent from 233,410 units in April.

Economists on average had expected an annual rate of 205,000, according to Thomson Reuters Eikon.

The annualized pace of urban multiple-unit projects such as condominiums, apartments and townhouses fell 18.5 per cent to 141,851 in May while the pace of single-detached urban starts rose 1.8 per cent to 45,095.

Rural starts were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 15,391 units.

The six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates was 201,983 in May compared with 205,717 in April.